A divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle.A divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle.A divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle.
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
19K
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writer
- Arthur Miller(screenplay)
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writer
- Arthur Miller(screenplay)
- Stars
- See more at IMDbPro
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
Videos1
Peggy Barton
- Young Brideas Young Bride
- (uncredited)
Rex Bell
- Old Cowboyas Old Cowboy
- (uncredited)
Ryall Bowker
- Man in Baras Man in Bar
- (uncredited)
Frank Fanelli Sr.
- Gambler at Baras Gambler at Bar
- (uncredited)
Bobby LaSalle
- Bartenderas Bartender
- (uncredited)
Philip Mitchell
- Charles Steersas Charles Steers
- (uncredited)
Walter Ramage
- Old Groomas Old Groom
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- Arthur Miller(screenplay) (short story)
- All cast & crew
Storyline
Roslyn Taber, the type of woman who turns heads easily, recently came to Reno to get a quickie divorce, she having no idea what to do with her life after that. She cannot tolerate seeing animal suffering, let alone human suffering. Coinciding with getting the divorce, Roslyn meets friends Gay Langland and Guido, a divorced aging grizzled cowboy and a widowed mechanic respectively. Although Guido makes no bones about wanting to get to know Roslyn in the biblical sense and although he "saw her first", Roslyn begins a relationship with Gay, despite Roslyn's friend Izzy Steers, who originally came to Reno years ago to get her own divorce and never left, warning her about cowboys as being unreliable, and despite Roslyn initially not being interested in Gay "in that way". Gay has grown children who he rarely sees and wishes he was there for more than was the case. Gay and Roslyn move into the under construction farmhouse owned by Guido, which he was building for his wife before she died. After spotting a small herd in the local mountains, Guido convinces Gay to do some mustanging - capturing wild mustangs - to sell them. In this and age, these mustangs, commercially, are good only as dog meat. Needing a third for their outing, they run into Perc Howland, a cowboy acquaintance, who is on his way to the Dayton Rodeo. He recently started the itinerant life out of necessity. Perc lives day to day, job to job, that is when he's not in the hospital recuperating from his many on the job injuries. They are able to convince Perc to join them after his events at the rodeo have concluded. Perc is just the latest to fall for Roslyn, while of the three men she feels the most protective toward Perc as the constantly injured one. The questions become whether the friendship and business of the three men can withstand the addition of Roslyn in their life, and if Roslyn can love any of three after seeing first hand what their life is all about. —Huggo
- Taglines
- 'SMASHING' thru the Excitement Barrier !
- Genres
- Certificate
- Not Rated
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaThis was the last completed film for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Gable died of a heart attack shortly after filming ended, and Monroe died of an alleged drug overdose a year and a half later.
- GoofsWhen the rodeo PA announcer introduces Perce Howland (Montgomery Clift) on a bucking horse, he says Howland is from "White River, Wyoming". Howland corrects him with a shouted "California, not Wyoming". This reinforces Howland's remark at the pay phone that he was trying to call home, but the operator kept giving him Wyoming rather than California. When Howland later mounts a Brahma bull, the PA announcer says, "Perce Howland of Black Hills, Colorado." Perce said he recently had been in Colorado, so the confusion of origins is understandable and perhaps intentional.
- Crazy creditsThere are no closing credits of any kind. Not even the words "THE END" appear on the screen.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Hollywood: The Great Stars (1963)
Top review
Gable and Monroe Are Terrific
THE MISFITS is a delicate gem of a film, poetic and harsh and as cold as those western stars on the horizon that Gable and Monroe drive toward at film's end. The title refers to the wild mustangs they hunt, but it also describes the 4 main characters, each lost in a world they hardly recognize. At one point Monroe points to a mountain vista and says "it's like a dream." Each of the characters is wounded and lost in some way. Marilyn Monroe plays a divorcée trying to figure out what to do next. Clark Gable plays a cowboy in a vanishing west. Montgomery Clift plays a rancher cheated out of his legacy when his mother remarries. Eli Wallach plays a guy whose life has come to a standstill after the death of his wife. The characters circle each other, trying to make connections, but their timing is always off. Gable and Monroe seem to find something until they go on the mustang hunt.
Gable is magnificent as the aging cowboy who fears "working for wages" as the final sign of giving in to the commonplace and losing the old west. But the old west is, of course, already lost. Most of the action takes place in and around Reno, the perfect symbol for what the west has become. His drunk scene (after he has seen his kids) is astonishing in its pain and ugliness. It's a great performance.
Monroe is stunning and gives a quiet and simple performance that shows what she could have done (had she lived). Leaving her "dumb blonde" persona in the dust, what we get here is Monroe the actress, and she's just plain terrific. Aside from the scene (done in a long shot) where she rages at the men after they have captured the horses, Monroe plays this character very quietly and with lots of small reactions (watch her eyes). It's a great performance.
Clift and Wallach do wonders with their characters and provide a lot of the tension since all three men pursue Monroe. Thelma Ritter is solid as Isabelle. Estelle Winwood has an odd role as the old lady collecting money. James Barton and Kevin McCarthy have small roles.
I think THE MISFITS is a must see for any serious film buff. The film collapsed under the weight of its publicity in 1961 and there was a huge backlash when Gable died within 2 weeks of finishing the film. Yet the film is gorgeous, a shimmering Arthur Miller poem to the worlds and people we've lost.
Gable is magnificent as the aging cowboy who fears "working for wages" as the final sign of giving in to the commonplace and losing the old west. But the old west is, of course, already lost. Most of the action takes place in and around Reno, the perfect symbol for what the west has become. His drunk scene (after he has seen his kids) is astonishing in its pain and ugliness. It's a great performance.
Monroe is stunning and gives a quiet and simple performance that shows what she could have done (had she lived). Leaving her "dumb blonde" persona in the dust, what we get here is Monroe the actress, and she's just plain terrific. Aside from the scene (done in a long shot) where she rages at the men after they have captured the horses, Monroe plays this character very quietly and with lots of small reactions (watch her eyes). It's a great performance.
Clift and Wallach do wonders with their characters and provide a lot of the tension since all three men pursue Monroe. Thelma Ritter is solid as Isabelle. Estelle Winwood has an odd role as the old lady collecting money. James Barton and Kevin McCarthy have small roles.
I think THE MISFITS is a must see for any serious film buff. The film collapsed under the weight of its publicity in 1961 and there was a huge backlash when Gable died within 2 weeks of finishing the film. Yet the film is gorgeous, a shimmering Arthur Miller poem to the worlds and people we've lost.
helpful•13128
- drednm
- Jan 14, 2008
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $4,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime
- 2h 5min
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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